A short riff on the saxophone used to indicate the arrival or presence of a sexy woman.
It can be as subtle as how loudly the music is played.

The muted trumpet can be used to similar effect.

The history of this trope comes from the fact that the roots of jazz and R&B were musicians playing in brothels and burlesque houses. The musicians were supposed to play music to, ahem, enhance the experience. Many jazz musicians' nicknames were often euphemisms, like Jelly Roll Morton, which reflected their roots as brothel musicians.

Examples:

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Advertising

A recent ad for Zoosk features a woman fantasizing about a sexy scene with a guy, accompanied by a sultry saxophone riff. And the riff promptly cuts off as soon as they smack their skulls into each other during an attempted kiss, and again when he bumps her head into a bedpost.

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Kuroko attempts to trick Mikoto into drinking out of a thermos laced with aphrodisiacs, but ends up dosing herself instead. Ten seconds later, the sax is playing on the soundtrack as she desperately tries to convince Mikoto to change into her swimsuit while they clean the pool.

The muted trumpet version is used for Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot. This is further expanded on when Monroe reveals to one of the main characters (Who is a Saxophone player himself) that she has a "thing" for Sax players, detailing her romantic exploits with other Sax players.

The main theme from Planet Terror, which plays over Cherry's go-go dance routine, and later given the action treatment in "Cherry's Dance of Death" when she has her big asskicking scene later in the movie.

A Running Gag in Fatal Instinct; the Femme Fatale is always accompanied by a steamy sax tune because a professional sax player follows her around, providing her with a theme tune while hiding in hallways, closets, even in her bed.

"There emerged from the car a pair of the sort of legs which soundtrack editors are unable to see without needing to slap a smoky saxophone solo all over, for reasons which no one besides soundtrack editors has ever been able to understand. In this particular case, however, the saxophone would have been silenced by the proximity of the kazoo which the same soundtrack editor would almost certainly have slapped all over the progress of the vehicle."

Live-Action TV

In the miniseries adaptation of James Clavell's Noble House, one of these was used at the beginning of nearly ever scene where Venus Poon showed up.

In The Brain That Wouldn't Die, this type of music plays (as the Villain Protagonist trolls for potential victims) and Tom Servo quips, "It's a sleazy morning out there. You're listening to KPORN, Holmes and Reems in the Morning, playing sleazy, slutty music all morning long. Here's one by Skinny and the Sweat Beads..."

Mike brings the riff back later when the music makes its reappearance. "Stay tuned for the obscene phone call of the day, on KPORN."

In The Horrors of Spider Island, there's a muted trumpet playing as a bikini-clad model showers. Crow quips, "Those musicians who play muted trumpet solos must love these movies."

And "I wasn't even acting sexy until the slutty sax music started!"

Tom Servo was prone to doing the mute-trumpet riff on occasion, to add sexual subtext to scene where it really didn't belong. His voice actor, Kevin Murphy, continues the tradition in various RiffTrax.

Used a lot in Scrubs, along with copious amounts of Gaussian Girl and Hot Wind whenever an attractive female character is first introduced.

Also happens in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy", where the Doctor programs himself to randomly daydream. Given that the Doctor's programming would make him Genre Savvy as hell about this kind of information, it's perfectly logical that an extremely exaggerated version of this trope plays when he slips into a daydream about Seven of Nine, B'Elanna, and Janeway all shamelessly flirting with him. It'shilarious.

Used once in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Buffy, under the influence of a love spell, enters the library wearing a raincoat, heels, a smile, and nothing else. Interestingly, the sax riff telegraphs her intent (to seduce Xander) every bit as much as her arrival.

Boy Meets World uses this once when Topanga enters the room in a sexy nightgown to show that she is finally ready to have sex with Cory, in one of her very few fanservice-y moments in the show.

In a rare male version, this was the theme music for "wrestling porn star" Val Venis.

Sports

In contrast to the high-energy "walk-up music" used by most baseball players, starting in May 2014, Oakland Athletics outfielder Josh Reddick opted for "Careless Whisper" by George Michael. The fans seem to approve.

Theater

Miss Saigon features a wailing saxophone song just prior to the leads having sex. They actually refer to it during the song, singing "a song, played on a solo saxaphone..."

Funny Girl: It's part of a nightclub act rather than something more risque, but the fairly stripperiffic song "Cornet Man" is unsurprisingly about a man who plays a cornet (basically a mellower-sounding version of the trumpet). Also, some of the lyrics can be taken as double-entendres suggesting the Cornet Man has reasons other than simply a "gig" to "leave his wife and kiddies" and go on the road, though it's not clear whether these were intentional or the song has fallen victim to Have a Gay Old Time syndrome.

Lisa/Ginko in Persona 2 also has the Tempt/Seduce like Ayase above, with the sexophone to match. She can also drag Maya and an unwilling/embarrassed Yukino to do a triple seduce... with the sexophone to match.

A long saxophone solo is played when Fortune first appears in Metal Gear Solid 2. Granted, she's not particularly fanservice-happy, but she's one of only three female characters in the game.

In the arcade game Silent Scope, a short riff plays when you find a woman in the background and point your sniper rifle at her. It helps that the character you're playing as gasps "Wow!" at the same time. (You get a bonus life point for this.)

Here's this gem from the ESRB's description of Trauma Team: Female patients are asked to explain their symptoms, then lift up their shirts for closer inspection. The scene contains no nudity, but a saxophone can be heard playing in the background as a male doctor makes the following remarks: "Can she really be that thin?," "dayum!," and — after doctor's heart rate increases — "It's only natural... I'm a straight male."

Martine's theme in The 7th Guest, reprised when Carl encounters her ghost in The 11th Hour.

In Fantasia: Music Evolved, before or during the song "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix, the player can substitute the saxophone from the "Eddie Kramer Orchestral Mix" for Jimi's vocals and the song would sound more instrumental and sexy... which is kinda like Getting Crap Past the Radar in a game for ten-plus-year-olds. And this is coming from a guy whose song origins in "Fire" date back to when Noel Redding invited Jimi to stay at the house of Redding's mother at New Year's Eve and to the events that followed.

Web Original

Lampshaded by Ben and Kerry of 2funnybastards.com and Hamilton, Ontario's Y108: "What is Kenny G. doing in everyone's bedroom ever?"

The sexophone riff in George Michael's "Careless Whisper" shows up whenever Bennett the Sage has his alter ego Suave turn up. It's also used to sex up the mood or parody a Ho Yay riddled scene whenever Sage feels like it's appropriate.

In Family Guy's viewer request episode, Peter wishes for his own personal soundtrack from a genie. The music engages in some Mickey Mousing, but when Peter and Lois are about to get intimate it turns into funky Sexophone music.

And there's the two of them engaging in "phone sax", which is playing sexy saxophone songs over the phone to each other. Lois does it with her vagina.

One would occasionally be played for Rosie O'Gravy from Dog City. Specifically whenever Ace Hart has an internal monologue in which he thinks fondly of her. Given the animated segments of the series parody classic detective stories, this is perhaps not surprising.

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